Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Alexander Filippenko, Arif Jakup and Agush Agushev feature in a quartet of movies released in the week of March 27th, 2026Below the Clouds, directed by Gianfranco Rosi Sun Mar 29 2026 - 05:00 • 2 MIN READTwo Prosecutors ★★★★☆ Directed by Sergei Loznitsa. Starring Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Alexander Filippenko, Anatoli Beliy, Andris Keiss, Vytautas Kaniusonis. No cert, limited release, 118 minGripping drama, set in Soviet Union of the 1930s, that sees Kuznetsov’s naive prosecutor seeking to free victims of Stalin’s purges. The plays of Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett were, no doubt, seasoned with schools of oppression that had grown up in the middle years of the 20th century. A man in a cell alone carrying out pointless minor tasks. Two men facing each other across a table. Loznitsa, the great Ukrainian director of contemporary nightmares such as Donbass and A Gentle Creature, here winds that absurd theatre in with those historical inspirations. Gripping. Infuriating. Quietly weird. Full review DCDJ Ahmet ★★★★☆ Directed by Georgi M Unkovski. Starring Arif Jakup, Agush Agushev, Dora Akan Zlatanova, Aksel Mehmet, Selpin Kerim, Atila Klince. No cert, limited release, 99 min“A North Macedonian coming-of-age drama that won the World Cinema audience prize at Sundance?” you say. No thanks. I have already chewed all the healthy raw vegetables I need today. Forget such facetiousness. Unkovski’s study of a music fan’s travails as the son of a sheep farmer is a hugely lively, energetically scored romp that will connect with anyone who has ever been young and misunderstood. Revelling in bright fabrics and seductive horizons, the director, despite all the conflicts, is here to argue for both the warmth of traditional families and the excitement of contemporary youth culture. Full review DCOrwell 2+2=5 ★★★☆☆Directed by Raoul Peck. Featuring Damien Lewis. No cert, limited release, 119 minPeck’s documentary draws its name from George Orwell’s chilly formulation of totalitarian logic: the acceptance of the patently untrue in the spirit of doublethink. For Peck this idea resonates urgently in a contemporary political landscape deformed by populism and the erosion of shared reality. The film attempts both a portrait of Orwell and a scattershot meditation on the persistence of his ideas. This breadth proves double-edged for the master craftsman behind documentaries such as I Am Not Your Negro and Ernest Cole: Lost and Found. The film often feels cluttered, shifting clumsily between biography, analysis and polemic. Full review TBBelow the Clouds ★★★★★Directed by Gianfranco Rosi. No cert, limited release, 114 minRosi’s latest arrives as the final instalment of a trilogy exploring contemporary Italian life, following Sacro GRA, which earned him the Venice Golden Lion, and Fire at Sea, chronicling the migration crisis in Lampedusa. Filmed in crystalline black and white, this homage to Naples is composed of tableaux captured from fixed camera positions, with no narration, named cast or editorialising. “Time destroys everything, preserves everything, and then returns to us in an unexpected way,” one archaeologist explains. Like the ancient remains, Rosi’s deserving Special Prize winner at Venice gifts us a pristine, durable snapshot of an extraordinary place. Full review TBIN THIS SECTION